ANNOUNCING THE INAUGURAL HARUMI BEFU PRIZE
Harumi Befu, Emeritus Professor at Stanford University, founded Anthropology of Japan in Japan in 1998, while serving as Professor of Social Anthropology at Kyoto Bunkyo University. He was the inaugural and lifetime emeritus president of AJJ, a distinguished anthropologist and ever generous mentor to younger researchers for well over half a century. He passed away on August 4, 2022 at the age of 92 and is remembered with affection and gratitude by all who knew him.
Now, thanks to the generosity of Harumi’s widow, Kei, AJJ is pleased to announce the launch of a major new prize in memory of Professor Befu, designed to enable a gifted junior scholar to pursue further significant research in Japan.
An “emerging scholar” is defined as any non-tenured researcher, including graduate students, post-doctoral researchers, independent scholars, non-tenured faculty, etc.
The prize consists of 250,000 yen and a framed certificate, and will be awarded for the best presentation at the AJJ annual conference by an emerging scholar. The gift from Mrs. Befu will finance the prize for the next ten annual conferences, 2023 to 2032.
The judges (members of the AJJ executive committee and co-opted senior scholars) will evaluate each presentation on the following criteria:
(1) Originality and importance of topic.
(2) Sophistication of research methods, with preference for fieldwork-driven projects.
(3) Excellence in presentation, with preference for clearly-argued, well-structured, engaging argumentation and delivery.
(4) Ability to respond concisely and convincingly to questions and comments.
All presentations by non-tenured scholars at the annual AJJ conference, starting with this year’s conference at the Shirokane, Tokyo campus of Meiji Gakuin University, will automatically be considered as candidates for the Befu Prize.
A eulogy for Harumi Befu may be found here:
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ANNOUNCING THE INAUGURAL MARK BOOKMAN PRIZE
Last year Mark Bookman, an emerging scholar who was already a leading authority on disability issues in Japan, suddenly and tragically died at the age of 31 of a rare disease. The last presentation he ever made was at AJJ 2022.
Now, thanks to a generous donation from Mark’s family, AJJ is pleased to announce the launch of the Mark Bookman Prize, funded for ten years, starting with this year’s conference at Meiji Gakuin University’s Shirokane Campus in Tokyo, December 2 to 3.
The prize is designed to boost the career of an emerging scholar researching people with disabilities or other minority groups in Japan, in memory of Mark Bookman. The prize consists of 50,000 yen and a framed certificate, for the best presentation at the AJJ annual conference by an emerging scholar on a topic relating to disabilities in Japan. If there is no suitable candidate, the prize may be given to the best presentation on a topic relating more generally to minority groups in Japan.
An “emerging scholar” is defined as any non-tenured researcher, including graduate students, post-doctoral researchers, independent scholars, non-tenured faculty, etc.
The judges, consisting of members of the AJJ Executive Committee present at the conference, plus other senior scholars co-opted by the committee, will evaluate presentations on the following criteria:
1. Originality and importance of topic.
2. Sophistication of research methods, with preference for fieldwork-driven projects.
3. Excellence in presentation, with preference for clearly-argued, well-structured, engaging argumentation and delivery.
4. Ability to respond concisely and convincingly to questions and comments.
A eulogy for Mark Bookman may be found here:
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